BLM approves Sunrise Powerlink to run through federal land

SAN DIEGO – The federal Bureau of Land Management on Tuesday approved San Diego Gas & Electric's controversial Sunrise Powerlink to run through 85 miles of land it controls.

“If everything goes according to schedule, we're looking at completion sometime in 2012,” said Jennifer Briscoe, an SDG&E spokeswoman.

The California Public Utilities Commission approved construction of the line last month. The biggest pending decision is whether the supervisor of the Cleveland National Forest will approve a 20-mile swath through the forest.

Nonetheless, opponents who say the line is unnecessary, ugly and too expensive have vowed to appeal in the courts, a process they hope will kill the project.

SDG&E says the 1,000-megawatt line is needed to bring power from wind, geothermal and solar facilities in Imperial County and Mexico, and will also provide capacity so other lines can carry wind power from eastern San Diego County.

State law requires the utility to increase its use of power from plants that don't burn fossil fuels.

A Cleveland National Forest spokesman said Forest Supervisor William Metz hasn't decided whether the environmental reviews used by the BLM and the California Public Utilities Commission meet the forest's standards.

That's in part because the current route, looping north and south of Interstate 8 from the Imperial Valley to Alpine, is miles from the original proposal through the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and parts of North County and didn't get the same kind of attention, said spokesman Brian Harris.

“There's a potential that additional environmental studies will have to take place,” he said.

Metz could rule as early as April, but will likely wait to see whether Sunrise opponents appeal federal and state decisions approving the line, Harris said.

Those appeals are coming, and will likely land in court.

Michael Shames, executive director of UCAN, the Utility Consumer Action Network, said he plans to ask the PUC this week to reconsider its approval. He expects that request to be denied, which would then lead to a court appeal asking judges to rule the commission acted arbitrarily.

Meanwhile, the Center for Biological Diversity is looking at Tuesday's BLM decision to see whether it violates the Endangered Species Act or other federal laws.

In the end, judges will have to determine whether there was enough evidence to justify decisions approving the $2 billion power line.

For the Sierra Club's Micah Mitrosky, the answer is no.

No power line, she said, has ever been approved in California that causes as much environmental damage as Sunrise is expected to cause.

Like other critics, she's concerned the line will be used for fossil fuels rather than non-polluting sources of energy.

“There is no guarantee that this multibillion-dollar transmission line will reduce greenhouse gas pollution or lead to the development of significant Imperial Valley renewable energy,” she said.

In its decision, the BLM says it is demanding SDG&E to comply with 76 pages of measures designed to limit the environmental damage caused by the power line.